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History

In 1936, Joseph Henri Corbeil created J.H. Corbeil, a manufacturer of truck and bus bodies. The company moved to manufacturing bus bodies exclusively in 1956.[1]

Following the death of Joseph Henri Corbeil in 1960, the company was passed on to his three sons. The company continued to expand, at one point gaining a share of 65% of the eastern Canadian market. A new larger manufacturing facility was soon built next to the original factory. However in 1975, the company was sold to an American corporation, which ceased operations in St-Lin-Laurentides during the recession of the early 1980s.[1]

Michel Corbeil created Les Entreprises Michel Corbeil Incorporated in 1985, continuing his father's legacy and occupying the same facility he had built. The company produced single rear wheeled type-A school buses (77 units in the first year). By 1991, they began offering dual rear wheeled type-A school buses and type-C school buses.[1] In the mid-to-late 1990s, they introduced their first type-D school bus, built on the International 3900 chassis. Only a limited number were produced, however.

By the mid-2000s the company was facing increased competition. Blue Bird introduced the Vision which used its own chassis. Similarly, Thomas Built Buses, which a subsidiary of Freightliner, introduced the Saf-T-Liner C2. Corbeil focused solely on producing type-A buses. In September 2007, the company was forced to shut down. In addition to competition from American manufacturers, the higher Canadian dollar was also cited as a factor.[2]

Marc Bédard, who previously served on Corbeil's board of directors, and Camile Chartrand who was Corbeil's CEO until 2007, established Lion Bus in 2008. They launched their first product in the summer of 2011. The company has since become a pioneer in electric-powered school buses.